Tag : art journal

267 posts

That is a message that I feel gets lost to many folk. Not naming any names but…. em-hem …you know who you are!believe in yourself art journal page

I don’t think this is an entirely Midwestern thing but we are definitely the champions of down playing ourselves…to the point of forgetting to believe in our own capabilities. I know I spiraled down this rabbit hole myself a time or two but it drives me absolutely up the wall when I see other folk…perfectly capable folk…downplay themselves so much.

believe in yourself art journal page

Ok, off the soap box…. but seriously…just do it…. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!!!!

 

This has been such a busy time for our family. Adjustments being made across the board. It makes me appreciate the simple things.

A family dinner with all of us present. A driveway chat with the neighbors. Having all the laundry done. And being creative with enough time and energy to share it with others.

 

The pieces of this fell into place without me even realizing it. I’ve been a bit of an emotional wreck on and off over the last 3 weeks….not even going to sugar coat that one. The changes were scary. I have taken comfort in my little bubble of security for the last decade or so. Pizza on Thursday, Fish on Friday. Routines and schedules grounded me…ground all of us. More than I ever realized.  I honestly thought of myself as spontaneous and I am…to a point. I just didn’t realize that as the years ticked past, my way of thinking and of life became more rigid.

This quote spoke to me. As much as I am enjoying my new career, I do morn for what was, as silly as that sounds.

I truly do like working in a school again. This job is definitely different than my previous but so am I and that’s ok.

ACK! See super emotional. Chatty and over sharing. Not my usual style.

Back to the journal page…. The little bit of lace just felt like the perfect finishing touch of the page.

It’s funny because if you’d have told me that I’d be spilling my guts on this journal spread and in the post when I got started I’d have told you that you were crazy. Well, look who’s a little crazy now. LOL

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Color in My World…highlighting my favorite color PINK/

Art Journal Journey

This month for Second on the 2nd I wanted to reshare or perhaps rehash the debate over art journals vs altered books. Let me know your thoughts.

Take a look….

altered book vs art journal | Halle's Hobbies

Over the years there seems to have been a shift in the verbiage used to describe the process of taking a book of little or no use and making it into a piece of art. Or perhaps it could even be a book with great meaning to you and you want to express yourself within it. Either way…you are altering it from it’s original purpose. Hence the name altered book, right?!  But the line has been blurred as mixed media and collage entered the scrapbook and paper arts world. I’m not saying this is a bad thing…more products, techniques, blogs and tutorials out there. Mixed media entered the main stream. Along with that is where the shift happened from altered books to art journals.

I’ve always felt (and still do) that explaining to outsiders what an altered book was bordered on exhausting at times. I’d, all too often, get a blank stare from the person I was talking to about my new passion. Somehow changing the way I described what I was doing as art journaling made more sense to my audience. Oh, it’s just art in journal form. Sure, if that makes it easier for you to understand…I’m cool with that.

For me, I feel as if the difference between an altered book and an art journal has a couple different facets. An altered book must first of all have been a written and published book. Secondly, for it to be an altered book, it has a theme.  Such as this Vintage Fashion altered book….which happens to be the first round robin altered book swap I ever participated in.  Too bad postage costs have skyrocketed since then.

vintage fashion altered book | Halle's Hobbies

 After completing a few themed altered books, I began creating pages randomly with no theme. Just a place to play and be creative. Somewhere along the line I started calling my “no theme” altered books, art journals. It seemed easier or perhaps more logical way to describe them once I heard more about art journals.

For me, I feel an art journal can be comprised of any substrate. Plain or scrapbook paper, card stock, bound journal, moleskin, cardboard. You name it…it’s likely been tried…as well as, you guessed it….published books. This causes the dreaded crossover…well, is it an art journal or an altered book? I feel as if I’m talking in circles.

I think what it comes down to is personal preference. It is art after all. You can call it whatever you want. We all define what we think is art in very different ways. You aren’t going to please everyone and you shouldn’t try. Art is an expression of yourself. There are no hard and fast rules…which is why I got interested in altered art 11 years ago.

So there you have it…my opinion on the difference between an altered book and an art journal. What is your take on this subject? Do you agree or have another ideas? I’d love to hear your opinions.

I’m back from vacation! It was wonderful…mini-me and I had a great time. Now that I’m caught up on laundry and all the other not so fun stuff once you get back home, I wanted to get creative again.remember the summer

I dug into my scrap bucket for inspiration. The background paper started out lavender…some distress paints did the trick on toning that right down.

I’ve been very drawn to blue/orange combo lately. It’s bold and exciting. remember the summer

The tickets attached to the page are from a family road trip in the early 1980’s with my parents. Amazing that mom still had those little bits squirreled away in a box of memories for so many years. The colors fit perfectly and cemented the direction I was headed with this page.remember the summer

The tangible bits of ephemera brought the memories alive within my head. I knew I had to use them and remind myself to remember that summer.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Summertime Love

Art Journal Journey

After a long day of landscaping…more on that in another post….something fun was in order.

fun this summer

I started with a sheet of page protector paper…random colors and stamps included. Note the date and circle stamping in the upper left. I was thinking fun so sunny, bright colors came to mind. I used my favorite tools to add this much needed color…my fingers! If I’m creating, I’m seldom without paint on my hands.

fun this summer

I used watered down paints on scrapbook paper to give life to this ice cream cone, using foam tape to give the scoop some dimension. I wasn’t sure I even liked this page last night I figured I’d be changing things up this morning.

Nope…after a good nights sleep, I like it! All that was left was to add the sentiment this morning.

Linking up with Art Journal Journey for Summertime Love

Art Journal Journey

This week I thought I’d give you a look at how my gardens are doing followed up with some art.

FYI-photo heavy post

The deck box garden holds my yellow pear tomato plants each year to keep them from cross pollinating with the red regular sized varieties, This year I think I got a few seeds mixed up. I have some non-pear shaped tomatoes on a couple vines. Hmmm. Time will tell. I also have my Egyptian walking onions, radishes and jalapenos in there. Resting on the edge is a new to me shepherds hook. Mr. G is going to move one hook about 10 inches down for me when he digs out the welder.

The shed garden is going gangbusters after what seemed like a very slow start. I have tons of tomatoes on the vines. Even the bedraggled plants that came home from Biology class with J are doing fantastic.

The pumpkin and this tomato included. I really had no hope for either of these plants so I didn’t work very hard making a good home for them. Obviously they don’t care a bit.

The yellow summer squash and zucchini are getting large although the zucchini hasn’t produced anything yet.

The yellow ones are tasty though.

The first bit of bounty from the garden has arrived.

I am dealing with this pest though. Anyone know what it is and how to get rid of it without chemicals? I’ve been knocking them off and squishing them but the little munchers keep coming back for more.

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We changed things up a little this year and didn’t attend the local parade for the 4th of July. Instead we went to a party close to our old neighborhood. We figured out that we hadn’t been to their annual bash in 10yrs. I forgot my phone at home so no pictures from there.

We came back for the standard evening shenanigans on our block. J had 6-7 friends hanging out by the end of the evening. You wouldn’t believe how quickly 3 large pizzas can disappear.

We joined a neighbor in their front yard for the awesome view of the fireworks, What a fun night.

Of course, there was lots of overindulging of all sorts so my drink of choice the next morning was….

alka-seltzer.

I did take a bit of time for creating. I’m not sure how I feel about this page now that its dry.  The colors of the stains were so fun and vibrant before they dried. Now the page is a little dull.

I went back and added these paper beads I made years ago to try and dress things up a bit. I love that they’ll hang outside the book begging someone to open it up to take a peek.

I’m planning to work on the landscape edging around a flower bed before it gets too hot. The humidity is what is so bad right now. UGH! I get very cranky in the heat.  And don’t even talk to me about my hair.

What are you doing today?

I’m only a little over a week late in sharing this journal page. The Independence Day holiday week kind of got away from me.

I started with a printed scrapbook paper which helped add depth to the page without too much effort. The base page was cool blues, purples and pinks…I decided to go another direction.

I loved how gorgeously aged this sheet of shorthand text was. It inspired the change of color scheme.

My scrapbook album journal is almost full. It’s beginning to get too thick to close tightly.

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